Basic HTML Version
(
#
)
, 1589) denotes “a picking out, selection” (Eng., “eclogue”), then,
“that which is chosen”; in Acts 9:15, said of the “choice” of God of Saul of Tarsus, the
phrase is, lit., “a vessel of choice.” It is used four times in Romans; in 9:11, of Esau and
Jacob, where the phrase “the purpose … according to election” is virtually equivalent to
“the electing purpose”; in 11:5, the “remnant according to the election of grace” refers to
believing Jews, saved from among the unbelieving nation; so in v. 7; in v. 28, “the
election” may mean either the “act of choosing” or the “chosen” ones; the context,
speaking of the fathers, points to the former, the choice of the nation according to the
covenant of promise. In 1 Thess. 1:4, “your election” refers not to the church collectively,
but to the individuals constituting it; the apostle’s assurance of their “election” gives the
reason for his thanksgiving. Believers are to give “the more diligence to make their
calling and election sure,” by the exercise of the qualities and graces which make them
fruitful in the knowledge of God, 2 Pet. 1:10.¶ For the corresponding verb
, see
CHOOSE
.
ELEMENTS
(
, 4747), used in the plural, primarily signifies any first things
from which others in a series, or a composite whole take their rise; the word denotes “an
element, first principle” (from
, “a row, rank, series”; cf. the verb
, “to
walk or march in rank”; see
WALK
); it was used of the letters of the alphabet, as elements
of speech. In the NT it is used of (a) the substance of the material world, 2 Pet. 3:10, 12;
(b) the delusive speculations of gentile cults and of Jewish theories, treated as elementary
principles, “the rudiments of the world,” Col. 2:8, spoken of as “philosophy and vain
deceit”; these were presented as superior to faith in Christ; at Colosse the worship of
angels, mentioned in v. 18, is explicable by the supposition, held by both Jews and
Gentiles in that district, that the constellations were either themselves animated heavenly
beings, or were governed by them; (c) the rudimentary principles of religion, Jewish or
Gentile, also described as “the rudiments of the world,” Col. 2:20, and as “weak and
beggarly rudiments,” Gal. 4:3, 9,
RV
, constituting a yoke of bondage; (d) the
“elementary” principles (the A.B.C.) of the OT, as a revelation from God, Heb. 5:12,
RV
,
“rudiments,” lit., “the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God,” such as are
taught to spiritual babes. See
PRINCIPLES
,
RUDIMENTS
.¶
ELEVEN, ELEVENTH
(
M
, 1733), lit., “one ten” (Lat.,
$
), is used only of the eleven
apostles remaining after the death of Judas Iscariot, Matt. 28:16; Mark 16:14; Luke 24:9,
33; Acts 1:26; 2:14.¶
(
=
!
, 1734), an adjective derived from the above, is found in Matt.
20:6, 9; Rev. 21:20.¶
ELOQUENT
(
, 3052), an adjective, from
, “a word,” primarily meant “learned, a
man skilled in literature and the arts.” In the
KJV
of Acts 18:24, it is translated “eloquent,”
said of Apollos; the
RV
is almost certainly right in translating it “learned.” It was much
more frequently used among the Greeks of one who was erudite than of one who was
skilled in words. He had stores of “learning” and could use it convincingly.¶